Chimichurri Chickpea Salad

I’m just amazed at how quickly this year has been passing by. This week we will hit the middle of March already but the exciting thing is that at the end of the week is St. Patrick’s Day! I’m always excited about this holiday because it’s the perfect time to make corned beef, cabbage and enjoy an Irish jig! And while I’m in love with all of the delicious seasonal food that comes with this holiday, I decided that this year I’m celebrating with something with a little more ‘green’. After you enjoy all of the corned beef and cabbage that you can stomach, you may want to switch over to my Chimichurri Chickpea Salad to detox.

I love the refreshing flavors of chimichurri. I make it all summer long when my cilantro and parsley crops are growing faster than I can handle. It’s an easy sauce to make and goes great on tacos and as a marinade for chicken, pork or fish. I decided to make a vegetarian salad featuring chimichurri that is packed with protein and flavor. I made my sauce the evening before I made these salads and marinating the chickpeas overnight so that the flavors would infuse into the beans.

I like a rich, green flavor when I’m eating salads so I blended together kale and arugula with crispy romaine. I also kept the salad simple with tomatoes and fresh avocado, but you can add in whatever you like. I think that adding jicama can give an added crunch or you may consider adding a bit of red onion as well. And of course, a salad is not complete without a dressing. To complement the flavors of the chimichurri I used Cotija Cilantro dressing from Litehouse. The bits of cilantro and robust flavor of cotija cheese really round out the overall flavor of the salad.

So here is my recommendation: Enjoy St. Patrick’s Day and all of the delicious food that you can for the day and then turn to another kind of green: Chimichurri Chickpea Salad!